News

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Attorney Rita Sostrin Attends SCOTUS Oral Arguments

On Tuesday, February 21, 2017, Partner Rita Sostrin attended oral argument proceedings at the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Ms. Sostrin was at the High Court to attend oral arguments for the high-profile case, Hernández v. Mesa.

The case dealt with the issue of “(1) Whether a formalist or functionalist analysis governs the extraterritorial application of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unjustified deadly force, as applied to a cross-border shooting of an unarmed Mexican citizen in an enclosed area controlled by the United States; (2) whether qualified immunity may be granted or denied based on facts – such as the victim’s legal status – unknown to the officer at the time of the incident; and (3) whether the claim in this case may be asserted under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The outcome of this case could be critical to our understanding of the anticipated revised executive order limiting admission of foreign nationals from certain Muslim-majority countries

While in D.C., Attorney Rita Sostrin also had the privilege to meet privately with the Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has held office at SCOTUS since 1993. Ms. Sostrin is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and was admitted by SCOTUS in February 2008.